Fear The Walking Dead: IS Dr. Nunez…IMMUNE?

By all accounts, it appears that Dr. Nunez is IMMUNE to the zombie virus, but…what does that mean for The Walking Dead?

If you’ve been following The Walking Dead universe like I have, it means that you’ve been watching The Walking Dead (And Fear The Walking Dead) since the very first episode some six years ago.

You’ve watched the beginning of the apocalypse, you’ve watched Rick’s group get an explanation of the disease from Dr. Jenner at the CDC, you’ve watched people survive walker bites through amputation, and you’ve watched a virus spread that itself my have been the very thing that caused the outbreak.

There is one thing, however, that none of us have ever seen in either series yet: Someone who is immune to the zombie virus, whatever it may be.

But, if anyone, never mind Dr. Nunez specifically, can be immune to the virus…what does that mean for the show?

Up to this point, the one common denominator for all of our characters is their vulnerability to the undead and the disease that fuels them.

Does the discovery of a person who’s immune change things?

Does the show lose some of its bite (No pun intended) when the possibility of someone who isn’t effected by the bites of the undead is revealed?

Does it make the infected/walkers less of a threat when there are people who are immune the disease that created them?

Well, I think to answer that, we have to look at the person who has raised this issue of immunity in the first place: Dr. Alejandro Nunez.

The Doctor Is In

On Sunday’s Fear The Walking Dead, Dr. Nunez told Nick the story of the infected bite on his shoulder.

According to him, he received it trying to save a young addict from being thrown in with a collection of infected that the townsfolk were preparing to exterminate. While trying to drag the young man to safety, he got bitten, only to be rescue himself by Luciana, who apparently helped nurse him back to health.

Despite he and Luciana expecting her efforts to only prolong the inevitable, Dr. Nunez survived. He survived being bitten by an infected.

Frankly, this leaves little wiggle room; Dr. Nunez got bitten (I highly doubt he’d mistake being bitten, or miss an infected’s head so close to his own) and is still alive to tell the tale. Not only did he survive, but, he did so without contracting the fever that seemed to take out so many at this early stage of the apocalypse (Like Jim, for example).

How is this possible? Did his supply of antibiotics (He is a pharmacist, after all) ward off the infection? Could it be that infected bites don’t guarantee zombification? Has everyone been getting it wrong this whole time?

I’m inclined to think not. Remember, back in season one of The Walking Dead, Rick and company learned of the sad fate of Dr. Jenner’s wife, Candace, who had become infected and, eventually, turned.

You’d think, if anyone we’ve seen in The Walking Dead universe would have had the medicine handy to stave off infection and zombification, it would have been her — Hell, she ran the friggin’ CDC!! — and yet, she succumbed just like everyone else.

This, I think, pokes a big whole in any theory that it’s simple infection from bites that kills people, and that Dr. Nunez simply resisted that infection (Which is comparatively unremarkable) and reinforces the theory that Dr. Nunez is, in fact, immune to the zombie virus.

This, of course, brings us back to the question at hand: Does the possibility of someone being immune to the zombie virus change the show? Does it make the infected/the walkers less of a threat?

No.

The Immunity Question

When The Flu struck The Group in season four of The Walking Dead, we saw a great many people who succumbed to it, including Glenn, Sasha, Karen, Patrick, and Lizzie.

The vast majority of people in The Group who came down with the virus were unable to withstand it long enough for Daryl and company to return with medicine. A great many more walkers were found with the disease’s trademark bloody eyes.

Yet, in spite of this, Hershel, Maggie, Rick, and Daryl, among others, were in close proximity to people who’d been carriers, and yet, never came down the disease. Why? Because they almost certainly were immune to that particular strain of The Flu.

And that is my point: There have always been at least a few people whose bodies were resistant to fatal diseases going back through history, who carried on even after a pandemic spread through the majority of the populace. I believe Dr. Nunez is just such a person.

Does this answer the question of whether said immunity changes The Walking Dead? Not necessarily, but, I posit this: Why should it?

Let’s think about this: Seeing as how we’ve already seen that the CDC couldn’t find a cure, why should Dr. Nunez being immune really change things?

Assuming he has antibodies that could be given to others to help fight off the infection, he clearly doesn’t have the means of replicating or distributing them as any kind of vaccine; Furthermore, he doesn’t even have the means of reaching anyone who does!!

If the concern is that his immunity takes away the threat from the infected, that can be put to bed. Dr. Nunez is just one man who happens to be immune to the zombie virus. A herd, or a bite to a vital area could still just as easily kill him. His immunity doesn’t change the apocalypse, it just gives us a new wrinkle to think about within it.

I, for one, am curious about where Dr. Nunez’s story will go. Will he survive beyond this season? Is he wrong about his immunity? What if he dies through some other means…will he still turn? There’s so many questions I have about this revelation and I believe there’s a great many possibilities for how the story can change because of it.

Hopefully, the writers won’t disappoint us.

But, what do you guys think? Do you think Dr. Nunez really is immune? Do you think that changes The Walking Dead? Or, do you think this doesn’t change a thing? Let me know in the comments!

Next: The Walking Dead: What Would YOU Do?

And, of course, if you appreciated this, and care to hear my thoughts on how you can survive a zombie apocalypse, pick up a copy of my book, The Rules: A Guide To Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse! You can also find it on Kindle here, and, on iTunes here!